An unworthy oath

[shaayecanaan]

\"The Declaration of Independence approved on May 14, 1948, heralds the new nation of Israel as a “Jewish state” but never defines what that actually means. There’s no mention of religion, indeed no mention of God. (“Rock of Israel” is the compromise phrase.) But there is an explicit description of the new state’s civic values: “It will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.”

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately, dangerously perverting those words.

By amending the loyalty oath to require prospective citizens who are not Jewish to swear allegiance to a “Jewish state,” Netanyahu’s cabinet crossed a line most other Western democracies do not even approach. Insisting on this vow will, understandably, make any non-Jew feel like a second-class citizen, violating the very equality and freedom so eloquently promised in Israel’s declaration.

But that’s not all. This insistence on proclaiming Israel as a “Jewish state” is also infecting Netanyahu’s on-again, mostly off-again talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu knows full well that Abbas cannot agree to that language without abandoning the Palestinians’ right of return, and that is a subject for final status negotiation, not something Abbas can exchange for a piddly two-month settlement freeze.\"


Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/132101/#ixzz12TULyheC

[whosinpower]

1. Ouch!

snip from article -

Netanyahu is employing this phrase simply for political purposes, to appease his nationalist right-wing coalition partners and stall peace talks, that is offensive enough. But it also reflects a deep insecurity about Israel’s national character that belies all his bellicose rhetoric. Why does Israel need to be defined by others? It is a Jewish state, with a Jewish majority, a Jewish military, a Jewish government, a Jewish flag, a Jewish national anthem, a Jewish calendar. Wasn’t the goal of Zionism self-determination? Better to act in a way consonant with Jewish values — the values espoused in the Declaration — than to grovel before an enemy for some kind of validation.


Ouch - that had to leave a mark......

[azurnoir]

2. And from Forward thank you n/t

[shaayecanaan]

3. yep, from the Forward

the times, they are a changin\'

[shaayecanaan]

4. My application for citizenship

My application for citizenship is due to be considered in the next few months, seven years after my marriage to a Palestinian citizen of Israel. The country\'s 1.3 million Palestinians -- usually referred to by officials as \"Israeli Arabs\" -- are a fifth of the population. I, like a few others in my position, am likely to make such a pledge through gritted teeth and with my fingers crossed behind my back. Whatever I declare publicly to interior ministry officials will be a lie. Here are the reasons why.

One is that this law is unapologetically racist. It applies only to applicants for citizenship who are non-Jews. That is not because, as most observers assume, all Jews in Israel would willingly make the pledge but because one significant group would refuse, thereby nullifying their right to become Israelis. That group is the ultra-Orthodox, religious fundamentalists distinctive for their black dress, who are the fastest growing group among Israel\'s Jewish population. They despise Israel\'s secular state institutions and would make a loyalty oath only to a state guided by divine law.

So Israel is demanding from non-Jews what it does not require of Jews.

Another reason is that I do not believe a Jewish state can be democratic, any more than I believe a democratic state can be Jewish. I think the two principles are as incompatible as a “Christian and democratic state” or a “white and democratic state”. I am not alone in this assessment. Eminent academics at Israel\'s universities think the same. They have concluded that the self-declared Jewish state qualifies not as a liberal democracy but as a much rarer politlcal entity: an ethnocracy.

http://counterpunch.org/cook10152010.html

[Violet_Crumble]

5. I'd probably cross my fingers and lie as well...

Getting citizenship and the benefits it entails would be too important as far as I'm concerned. Not that I hope I'd ever be in the position where I'd need to have citizenship of a country that discriminates against some applicants depending on whether they're from one group or another. A state that clings to such discriminatory laws is not going to be a democratic state for much longer...

[shaayecanaan]

6. Its the sort of thing people have had to cross their fingers and lie about

for a long time, historically.

[oberliner]

7. What do you mean by that?

Are you talking about Israel in particular?

[shaayecanaan]

8. No (nt)